Getty Images Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.
The Cleveland Browns have been floated as a destination for disgruntled Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones but a blockbuster trade isn’t in the cards.
With rumors swirling, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com put an end to the rumors in her latest Q&A column:
While I’ve seen and heard a number of people propose a Beckham-for-Jones swap, it’s just not going to happen. The Browns are excited about getting Beckham, 28, back from his torn ACL this season, and aren’t interested in trading for a 32-year-old receiver whose base salary is $15.3 million this season and $11.513 million in each of the next two years.
The Browns feel good about their receiver room and have no plans to shake it up with a blockbuster move like this.
As Cabot points out, the problem is that Jones is due a massive salary next season. On top of that, the Browns don’t need another pass-catcher that demands the ball with Beckham, Landry and other talents like Rashard Higgins, Anthony Schwartz and Donovan Peoples-Jones on the roster.
The Browns were at one point among the favorites to land Jones, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
Odds for where Julio Jones will be playing next season 👀
(via @DKSportsbook)
Jones an Intriguing Talent for Any Team
Jones is 32 and is coming off a season where he missed seven games due to injury. However, the prospect of landing the seven-time Pro Bowler is something most teams will explore. He’s just a year removed from a 1,394-yards, six-touchdown season where he averaged 92.9 yards per game.
He’s led the league in receiving yards twice and his 95.5 yards per game is the highest average in NFL history, per ESPN. His stacked resume also includes seven Pro Bowl selections and two first-team All-Pro nods.
The Falcons have said they’ll take calls on Jones to gauge the market.
“That’s one of those things when you’re doing things the right way in an organization, you have to listen if people call, on any player,” Fontenot told Fox 5. “Especially, we are in a difficult cap situation, that’s just the circumstance and it’s not a surprise for us. We knew the circumstance we were in. Our administration has done an excellent job up to this point getting us in a position to be able to manage the cap, and yet we still have more work to do.
“So when teams call about any players then we have to listen and we have to weigh it and we have to determine what’s best for the organization and we have to handle everything with class.”
Browns, Andrew Berry Have Been Aggressive in Roster Building
GettyNew Cleveland Browns defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
The Browns have been aggressive in building a championship-caliber roster with Andrew Berry at the helm of the front office in Cleveland — a name like Jadeveon Clowney being evidence of that.
Berry was clear during one of his first press conferences that’d he’d at least listen to nearly every offer, admitting a lot of trade talks are “hollow.”
#Browns GM Andrew Berry on learning from Howie Roseman:
1) “Being aggressive in every area of player acquisition whether it’s trades, UFA market, draft”
2) “Value in getting to know locker room at personal level”
3) “Difference accumulating talent vs actually constructing team”
“I won’t discuss any specific player in terms of trade opportunities, trade calls or anything like that,’’ Berry said when specifically asked about Beckham. “I did work under probably the strongest wheeler-dealer in the league under [Eagles GM] Howie Roseman and it’s something that you always pick up the phone and you listen to anything across the table.
“A lot of trade talk ends up being hollow across the NFL anyway. But again, we’re going to exploit any opportunity to improve the roster through any means necessary.”
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Browns Make Final Call on Blockbuster Trade for Julio Jones: Report